iPhone 5S spending
If not attached at the hip, my iPhone seems to be an extended part of my hand. However, as the rumors of the new iPhone start to spin, I am ready to ditch my extended ligament in hopes of a new technological miracle to reattach.
Reportedly heading into production next month, according to Tech Radar, the iPhone 5S could hit shelves as early as June.
Bloggers' posts and YouTube videos hashing out predicted details of the new iPhone have attracted a large audience over the past couple months. CNETTV released an "Apple Byte" on YouTube, with more than 200,000 views, offering viewers a sneak peak.
Although nothing points to the fact that the new iPhone will be any different from its predecessors — even though many on the Internet believe it will have a hologram function and will be able to read your mind — we all know it will be a massive hit, regardless.
Everyone has high expectations that this product could not possibly live up to. The differences between the iPhone 4 and 5 were minimal, and it was disappointing. But I know I am going to want the latest version.
Nancy Grass-Hemmert, communication and media studies department chair at Santa Monica College, connected our obsession with our electronic devices to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, proposed by Abraham Maslow, known for his psychological theories. According to Grass-Hemmert, our basic needs of well-being are already met, leaving us to turn to the latest gadgets to fulfill needs for love, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.
"If you have the latest, greatest iPhone, your friends and neighbors will be impressed with it and, by extension, you," Grass-Hemmert said. "Thus fulfilling your self-esteem need for respect by others, even if only for a few minutes."
Consumerism is a bad habit for spendthrifts, but, even if it is temporary, buying the latest and greatest can make people believe they are happy.
According to Statista Inc., an Internet statistics company, the original iPhone, released in 2007, sold 6.1 million units within the first year. Over the following three years, the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS sold a total of 73.5 million units.
The iPhone 5 alone sold 27.4 million units during 2012 years final quarter, according to Trusted Reviews, a website that reviews consumer electronics.
Eighty-three percent of those who bought the iPhone 5 upgraded from a previous iPhone version, according to Statistic Brain's website.
Up to this date, the total sale of iPhones is somewhere around 318 million units, and the total revenue has burst through the $150 billion wall, according to CNET Networks.
Since the end of 2011, there have been more iPhones sold each day than babies born, according to CNET.
It is clear that I am not the only one attached to my iPhone.
For as long as I have owned a smartphone, the market has been dominated by Apple.
More recently, however, other companies are producing equivalent, if not more innovative, smartphones that consumers have shown interest in. It is no longer the choice of the latest iPhone. The market has broadened significantly in the last year with endless wallet-emptying opportunities.
Apple still sits on a throne, but there will be competitors, which will ultimately benefit the happiness of consumers.
Every other manufacturer will put out their best products, with the lowest price to try to push Apple down from their top spot. Consumers expect holographic functions and mind-reading capabilities, and, as crazy as that sounds, Apple needs to step up.
Steve Jobs often quoted Henry Ford when he described his visions.
"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses," he said.